Friday, July 19, 2013

The Crickets Have Arrived

Hello. It's July. Today was really super hot and It's only just now, at 11:00 in the p.m., that I feel like I'm not going to melt into a sweaty little puddle. And as I sit here on the couch, enjoying an episode of Scrubs, Season 2 (it's only slightly off-color), I can hear the sweet chirp-chirping of crickets through the open window. That sound is one that I associate entirely with summer but really they don't start their little evening symphony until mid July. I listen for them every night and I have to confess that summer doesn't feel really here until I hear them. It also doesn't feel really here until it's July and so hot that I can barely stand my own skin.

I realized yesterday that we only have 5 weeks until school begins. I can't believe that. Why does summer seem so eternally long to me each June and then by July I am wondering where it has gone? I'm so weird!

So, what have we been up to? I don't really have many major events or trips to report on; we've just been doing the crazy summer here-ing and there-ing and this-ing and that-ing that fills up our calendar in the blink of an eye.

Here are some things to remember:

Probably the biggest event of the month was the week-long parent-free excursion of my elder daughter, aka Bitty. It was really weird. One of her best friends moved to St. George but came back up here for the 4th of July. Her family invited Bitty to drive home with them that next Sunday and stay for a few days. I think my dear friend, mother of Bitty's friend, was bravely offering to have Bitty for four or five days but I was very happy to tell her that two nights would be wonderful and that my brother and his wife had expressed an interest in having Bitty stay with them for a couple of nights as well and luckily that same week worked for them. So my sweet little Bitty spent four nights away from me while I worried about her, worried about my friend and my sister-in-law who had to take care of my occasionally-super-emotional gal and also worried about myself who maybe just enjoyed it a bit too much. It was a really quiet and easy week. Part of that was because Stomper had both cello camp and scout camp that week so mostly it was just me and Bundle.




I think Bitty had a great time - my friend Marsha was so cute and had a ton of crafts for the girls to do together, and Sheri my sis-in-law was almost like home to a slightly homesick Bitty because we have been together so much. Although there was one incident where Bitty was grumpy about not having the right clothing for playing outside in a rainstorm and Sheri caught a picture of her grumpy face which she texted me, making me feel both guilty, irritated, lonely for my daughter, and highly entertained all at the same time. A much better set of pictures to receive were those of Bitty going on a boating trip with Sheri's family. I was a little jealous to miss that!






And Stomper. Like I mentioned, he attended cello camp last week. Poor kid; who wants to tell anyone that they go to cello camp? It sounds beyond nerdy! But guess what, he loved it. I was so relieved when I told him that this was the week for camp and he said, "YESSSSS!!!" My sister is so awesome. She is way more of a therapist than a cello teacher. My kids adore her and so do I. We did do some other fun stuff, such as taking Stomper and Bundle to their first ever drive-in movie.  I was super shocked that Bundle stayed awake and happy for the whole thing even though the feature didn't even start until 9:30.  We can't wait to go back and take Bitty with us. If you ask Bundle about it, she will tell you that she loved seeing Pickable Me 2 at the Drive Through Movie.




A couple of other things I wanted to get onto the blog -

We got a new hammock. We had one before that was kind of a woven fish-net kind of thing that the kids loved but couldn't stay in for long without their bums falling through. So Troy picked out this awesome hammock for us and we have spent a lot of time in it this summer, although at least three of us have learned that swaying gently in the hammock and playing games on a phone or iPad at the same time is a really bad and also nauseating idea. The back porch has been a great refuge for us this summer and it's been fun to make some little improvements here and there like hammocks and fun planters and things to make it all the more pleasant for hanging out.



Also had to make note of the day the girls went with their daddy to visit his parents and ended up mowing the lawn all by themselves. Bitty asked if she could please please please be hired to mow his giant lawn every week in hopes of earning a whole 50 cents each time.

She was really driving. And LOVING it.
Bundle hasn't done much but hang out with her mother all summer long. Boy howdy does she love to help me with everything I do. It's...nice? Sweet? Not actually helpful? All of the above. But I sure love having a little shadow and I know I'll miss that terribly some day. I just have to tell one little story about her. This spring and summer Bundle has decided that she is very interested in bugs. Prior to this, she spent a lot of time screaming if she even saw one but I don't know what happened. Suddenly she is really okay with them, to the point of picking them up with her bare fingers and collecting them and naming them and wanting to grab them all the time. Bugs are not a big problem for me, but that doesn't mean I want to grab them with my bare hands. Funny girl.

Keeping Bundle Busy during her sibling-free week with Pinterest Projects like Painting with Sweetened Condensed Milk.  Of course she took it to the next level and just made a huge mess which also involved pom poms.
Hanging out with Bundle way past bedtime and entertaining ourselves with my phone.
So there you go. Start with a bug story, (welcome, crickets!) and end with a bug story too. It's time to go to bed so I can get some rest before I start sweating again tomorrow.

WARM!



2 comments:

Linda Ross said...

Such cute pictures! I love your honesty about savoring the quiet times when your kids are away. Sometimes I think I am the only one who feels that way. When I dropped my youngest off at kindergarten (many years ago) on the first day, the other moms were wiping away the tears while I gleefully ran to my car, pumping my fists in the air!! Tomorrow my oldest will be 16. Wow, the time goes by so fast.

elyse said...

Super cute post. It was good to see you today. Thanks for sharing your cookies with Nels. :)